The invention relates to tire inflation systems for vehicles and, more particularly, to a tire inflation system that uses a cavity between an axle spindle and an axle shaft for a conduit for a pressurized fluid, such as air.
Tire inflation systems for vehicles are well-known and are used to provide a vehicle with versatility for differing terrain types or to reduce maintenance requirements. For example, a pressure of a plurality of tires in fluid communication with the tire inflation system may be lowered to provide additional traction for the vehicle and may be raised to reduce a rolling resistance of the vehicle. Further, the vehicle having the tire inflation system eliminates a need to periodically check a pressure within each tire and eliminates a need to adjust the pressure within each tire when the pressure within each tire requires adjustment as desired.
Tire inflations systems typically are not installed on drive axles due to increased complexities, spacing requirements, and cost. Unless the tire inflation system is wholly mounted on a wheel in communication with the system, a rotary seal must be employed to permit a fluid communication between a pump and each tire included in the tire inflation system, for example. When the tire inflation system is employed on a drive axle, an axle housing may be used as a portion of the conduit for the pressurized fluid or the conduit may be routed outside of the axle housing. When the axle housing of a drive axle is employed as the portion of the conduit for the pressurized fluid, additional rotary seals may be necessary to prevent interference with a differential lubricant, for example. Alternately, when the conduit is routed outside of the axle housing, the rotary seal may become unnecessarily large.
It would be advantageous to develop a tire inflation system that uses a cavity between an axle spindle and an axle shaft for a conduit for a pressurized fluid that requires a single rotary seal, may be used with a drive axle, and reduces a complexity of the tire inflation system.